Identify a current engineering technology, design, product, concept or innovation that has the potential for significant societal impacts if widely deployed. Your Social Impact Analysis should reference credible sources of information on your chosen topic. Your sources might be scientific and engineering journal articles, trade publications, patents, copyrights, etc. You are required to use APA citation when citing your sources.
–Instructions:
Your submission will require you to demonstrate that you can think critically about the ethical implications of your chosen topic. Address the following in your paper:
–Part I: Exposition
a) Background
– Introduction: set out general problem that design/product/concept (DPC) is intended to solve.
– Provide a complete but concise description of the DPC you are analyzing.
– Who is responsible for creating/producing/building the DPC?
– What need is it intended to fill?
– Who are the stakeholders (identify direct and indirect stakeholders)?
b) Survey (no weights assigned) of potential benefits and potential drawbacks
– 1-2 paragraphs summarizing potential benefits.
– 1-2 paragraphs summarizing potential drawbacks.
–Part II: Critical Analysis
a) Identify the most significant (two each at most) of the following:
– Benefit – what is the most significant benefit and why?
– Drawback – what is the most significant drawback and why?
b) Applying systems thinking & virtue ethics:
– Provide a mini-introduction to this section previewing the steps are you going to go through in the following paragraphs.
– You should include your causal loop diagram in this section of the paper. Do not (re)summarize the entire diagram. Rather, use it to support your analysis of the system from a virtue ethics perspective. Remember, virtue requires efficacy as well as right motivation. Efficacy requires understanding the system one is operating within; your causal loop diagram can facilitate this.
– Use Aristotelian virtue ethics to analyze your topic. This should include a discussion of eudaimonia (i.e. how does the technology you are analyzing impact the flourishing of all stakeholders) as well as two (no more than three) virtues you think are most relevant. Your application of the virtues should be from the perspective of the engineers/computer scientists making decisions about the DPC you are analyzing.
c) Position on the future of your topic
– What is your position? Why?
– If you are in favor of the DPC continuing, make sure you address the drawback you discussed in IIa. That is, mitigating or eliminating this drawback should be part of your position. If you are against the DPC, explain how you will address the lost benefit mentioned in IIa.
d) Counterargument to your position (II c) and response
– Spend at least one paragraph identifying and motivating the most serious counterargument/objection to your position.
– Spend at least one more paragraph addressing this counterargument/objection.
